"'"   "RECAP 


COLUMBIA  LIBRARIES  OFFSITE 

HEALTH  SCIENCES  STANpARD 


HX64098095 
R1 54.T7  C35  The  beloved  physicia 


5)  1LJ'^'<N#  en  /f^  1 


II   %3  i  %-^  11  / 


EDWARD  LIVINGS 
TRUDEAU 


BV 


I 


CHALMERS 


W^dnma  Htbrarg 


THE 
BELOVED    PHYSICIAN 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2010  witii  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons 


http://www.archive.org/details/belovedphysicianOOchal 


EDWARD   LIVINGSTON   TRUDEAU 


THE 
BELOVED  PHYSICIAN 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

BY 

STEPHEN   CHALMERS 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

1916 


COPYRIGHT,    1915,   BY  THE   ATLANTIC   MONTHLY   COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT,    1916,   BY   STEPHEN   CHALMERS 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  January  iqib 


TO 
DR.  J.  WOODS    PRICE 

WHO   HELD  THE 
LIGHT 


ILLUSTRATIOKS 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau       Frontispiece 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Trudeau   ....     14 

Dr.  Trudeau's  First  House  at  Saranac 
Lake  (burned  in  1893)  and  the 
Church  of  St.  Luke  the  Beloved 
Physician,  founded  by  him        ,       .18 

One  of  Dr.  Trudeau's  Prescriptions  .     22 

An  Early  Prescription  in  Tuberculosis     22 

Dr.  Trudeau  with  his  Rifle  ...     26 

The  "Little  Red,"  built  in  1884: 
Nucleus  of  the  Adirondack  Cot- 
tage Sanitarium 32 

Beginnings  of  the  Open-Air  City  of 
the  Hills,  about  1890        ...     36 


Illustrations 

Beginnings    of    the    Open-Air    City, 

ABOUT  1892 36 

The  Saranac  Lake  Laboratory    .       .  48 

When  the  Family  Dog  was  ailing      .  54 

Dr.   Trudeau   in  the  Saranac  Lake 

Laboratory 60 

The  Adirondack  Con  age  Sanitarium  64 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau        .       .  70 


IKTRODUCTIOK 

TRUDEAU    ON    OPTIMISM 

The  last  public  utterance  of  Dr.  E. 
L.  Trudeau,  who  died  at  Saranac 
Lake,  New  York,  November  15, 
1915,  was  at  Washington,  May  2, 
1910,  when,  as  President  of  the 
Eighth  Congress  of  American  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  he  delivered 
some  of  his  best  philosophy  in  an  ad- 
dress entitled,  '<The  Value  of  Opti- 
mism in  Medicine,"  which  was  writ- 
ten while  he  lay  on  a  bed  of  suffering 
and  delivered  at  a  time  when  he  was 
hardly  able  to  stand  up  before  his 
colleagues. 


Introduction 

"  As  I  look  back  on  my  medical 
life/'  he  said  in  part,  **  the  one  thing 
that  stands  out  as  having  been  most 
helpful  to  me,  and  which  has  enabled 
me  more  than  anything  else  to  ac- 
complish whatever  I  have  been  able 
to  do,  seems  to  me  to  have  been  that 
I  was  ever  possessed  of  a  fund  of 
optimism  ;  indeed,  at  times  optimism 
was  about  the  only  resource  1  had  left 
with  which  to  face  most  unfavorable 
conditions  and  overcome  serious  ob- 
stacles. 

**  Optimism  is  a  product  of  a  man's 
heart  rather  than  of  his  head ;  of  his 
emotions  ratlier  than  of  his  reason ; 
and    on   that    account    it    is    rather 

c  X  ] 


Introduction 

frowned  upon  by  many  physicians 
whose  scientific  training  naturally 
leads  them  to  depend  solely  upon 
qualities  of  the  intellect,  and  to  look 
with  suspicion  on  any  product  of  the 
emotions.  .  .  .  Optimism  is  a  mixture 
of  faith  and  imagination,  and  from  it 
springs  the  vision  which  leads  one 
from  the  beaten  paths,  urges  him  to 
effort  when  obstacles  block  the  way, 
and  carries  him  finally  to  achieve- 
ment, where  pessimism  can  see  only 
failure  ahead.  Optimism  means  en- 
ergy, hardships,  and  achievement: 
pessimism  means  apathy,  ease,  and 
inaction.  Optimism  may  and  often 
does  point  to  a  road  that  is  hard  to 
Cxi  J 


Introduction 

travel,  or  to  one  that  leads  no- 
where; but  pessimism  points  to  no 
road  at  all. 

*'  The  doctor,  whether  he  be  a  sci- 
entist and  his  life  wholly  given  to  sci- 
entific investigation  in  the  laboratory, 
where  reason  and  intellect  reign  su- 
preme, or  whether  he  be  wholly  a 
practicing  physician  and  surgeon  in 
daily  contact  with  suffering  human- 
ity in  its  struggles  against  disease, 
will  need  all  the  optimism  he  can  cul- 
tivate if  his  life  is  to  be  as  fruitful  in 
results  as  it  can  be  made.  The  sci- 
entist without  optimism  may  be  an 
admirable  intellectual  machine,  who, 
it  is  true,  is  not  likely  to  be  led  astray 


Introduction 

from  the  well-worn  road  of  demon- 
strable and  generally  already  demon- 
strated facts,  and  as  such  he  will  have 
his  place  in  life ;  but  he  will  never 
climb  above  the  ruck,  he  will  create 
and  achieve  httle  in  the  field  of  orig- 
inal research,  unless  faith  in  his  own 
powers  furnishes  the  incentive  to 
constant  effort  and  imagination  leads 
him  into  an  unexplored  region,  to 
new  methods  and  untried  lines  of  in- 
vestigation. 

"To  the  practicing  physician  and 
surgeon  optimism  is  even  more  nec- 
essary than  to  the  scientist,  for  be- 
sides moulding  the  doctor's  character 
and  guiding  him  in  his  decisions  as  to 
C  xiii  :i 


Introduction 

the  case,  his  optimism  is  at  once  re- 
flected to  the  patient  and  influences 
his  condition  accordingly.  How  great 
this  influence  may  be  we  are  learn- 
ing more  and  more  to  appreciate.  In 
his  hour  of  need  the  patient  has  no 
means  of  judging  the  physician's  in- 
tellectual attainments ;  it  is  the  faith 
that  radiates  from  the  doctor's  per- 
sonality that  is  helpful  to  him.  Any 
encouragement  that  emanates  from 
the  physician  will  help  keep  up  the 
patient's  courage  and  carry  him 
through  long  days  of  illness  and  suf- 
fering to  recovery;  and  where  re- 
covery is  impossible,  if  the  doctor's 
optimism  —  that  is,  his  faith  —  is  of 
[  xiv  ] 


Introduction 

the  kind  that  extends  to  the  future, 
not  only  here  but  hereafter,  it  may 
dispel  for  the  patient  much  of  the 
darkness  and  despair  which  brood 
over  the  end  of  life  and  perhaps  even 
illume  for  him  that  vast  forever  oth- 
erwise so  shrouded  in  impenetrable 
gloom. 

"  Ian  Maclaren's  optimism  was  of 
this  kind,  and  Dr.  Grenfell's  opti- 
mism is  every  day  helping  him  to  heal 
not  only  sick  bodies,  but  the  broken 
spirits  of  men  as  well.  This  is  the 
highest  type  of  optimism  the  doctor 
may  attain  to,  as  its  influence  may 
reach  not  only  to  the  physical,  the 
intellectual,  and  the  psychical,  but 

c  xv:i 


Introduction 

even  to  that  dim  ethereal  region  of 
the  spiritual,  from  which  spring  man's 
most  sacred  and  cherished  aspirations. 
This  side  of  the  doctor's  life  of  serv- 
ice to  humanity  is  known  but  to  him- 
self and  to  those  who  in  the  hour  of 
death  have  turned  to  him  for  help ; 
to  the  world  this  is  a  closed  book, 
but  what  is  written  on  its  pages  has 
helped  to  make  the  medical  profes- 
sion a  benediction  to  mankind. 

"  The  most  striking  examples  in 
our  time  of  the  value  of  optimism, 
each  representing  one  of  the  two  ex- 
tremes of  the  medical  profession, — 
that  is,  experimental  science  and 
practical  medicine  and  surgery, — 
[  xvi  3 


Introduction 

are  Pasteur  and  Grenfell.  I  have 
chosen  these  two  men  as  examples 
of  optimism,  each  in  his  own  sphere, 
because,  widely  different  as  have  been 
their  fields  of  labor,  they  each  repre- 
sent a  type  of  optimism  in  medicine 
which,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
is  the  ideal  of  so  many  doctors'  lives 
—  the  humanitarian  type.  The  mov- 
ing force  in  both  Pasteur's  and  Gren- 
fell's  lives  has  been  the  relief  of  hu- 
man suffering,  and  their  intellectual 
attainments  have  been  consecrated  to 
this  end.  Personal  ambition,  the  pride 
of  intellect,  or  the  love  of  fame  has 
had  little  or  no  influence  in  urging 
them  to  their  great  achievements. 
C  xvii  ] 


Introduction 

"  The  man  must  indeed  have  been 
an  optimist,  who,  standing  at  the 
very  threshold  of  the  discovery  of 
the  germ  origin  of  disease,  did  not 
hesitate  to  say,  <It  is  within  the 
power  of  man  to  cause  all  infectious 
diseases  to  disappear  from  the  earth.' 
Pasteur's  optimism  led  him  unerr- 
ingly to  the  solution  of  every  experi- 
mental problem  he  started  to  solve, 
because  his  faith  made  him  see  noth- 
ing ahead  but  success,  and  his  im- 
agination led  him  to  a  solution  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  when  his  rea- 
son alone  would  have  failed. 

"  The  moving  force  in  the  great 
humanitarian  achievements  of  Dr. 
[  xviii  ] 


Introduction 

Grenfell  is  the  highest  type  of  opti- 
mism ;  a  faith  which  includes  not  only 
that  which  is  seen  and  temporal, 
but  the  unseen  and  eternal  as  well ; 
and  on  this,  which  to  the  pessimist 
would  seem  an  uncertain  and  emo- 
tional basis,  he  has  built  up  a  work 
which  has  arrested  the  attention 
and  won  the  admiration  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  The  kind  of  optimism 
which  extends  to  the  hereafter  is  in 
Dr.  Grenfell  no  mere  idealist's  vis- 
ion, but  a  very  real  force  to  be  reck- 
oned with  in  this  world  if  it  enables 
a  man  in  so  few  years  to  accomplish 
what  he  has  done.  .  .  . 

"  Optimism  is  the  one  thing  that 
[  xix  ] 


Introduction 

is  within  the  reach  of  us  all,  no 
matter  how  meager  our  intellectual 
equipment,  how  unpromising  our 
outlook  at  the  start,  or  how  obscure 
and  limited  our  careers  may  be.  It 
was  about  my  only  asset  when  I 
built  my  first  little  sanitarium  cot- 
tage on  a  remote  hillside  in  an  un- 
inhabited and  inaccessible  region. 
Viewed  from  the  pessimist's  stand- 
point, that  little  cottage  as  an  in- 
strument of  any  importance  in  the 
warfare  against  tuberculosis  must 
have  appeared  as  a  most  absurd  and 
monumental  folly.  Optimism  made 
me  indifferent  to  neglect  and  oppo- 
sition and  blind  to  obstacles  of  all 


Introduction 

kinds  during  the  long  years  of  strug- 
gle before  the  value  of  sanitarium 
treatment  became  generally  recog- 
nized. It  enabled  me  to  undertake 
the  culture  of  the  tubercle  bacillus 
and  delve  in  the  complex  problems 
of  infection  and  artificial  immuniza- 
tion, though  I  had  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  bacteriology,  no  labor- 
atory, no  apparatus  or  books.  It  has 
steadily  upheld  my  faith  in  the  pos- 
sibility of  ultimately  attaining  to  an 
immunizing  treatment  for  tubercu- 
losis, in  spite  of  many  discourage- 
ments and  years  of  fruitless  work 

"  In  a  long  life  which  has  been 
lived  daily  in  contact  with  patients 
C  xxi  3 


Introduction 

beyond  the  reach  of  human  skill, 
who  through  months  and  even  years 
of  hopeless  illness  have  looked  to 
me  for  help,  I  have  indeed  had 
need  of  all  the  optimism  I  could 
chng  to.  It  has  ever  been  a  precious 
asset  to  me,  and  I  hope  to  those 
about  me  as  well,  and  has  never 
entirely  failed  me. 

"  Let  us  not,  therefore,  quench 
the  faith  nor  turn  from  the  vision 
which,  whether  we  own  it  or  not, 
we  carry,  as  Stevenson^s  lantern- 
bearers  their  lanterns,  hidden  from 
the  outer  world ;  and,  thus  inspired, 
many  will  reach  the  goal;  and  if 
for  most  of  us  our  achievements 
C  xxii  ] 


Introduction 

must  fall  short  of  our  ideals,  if  when 
age  and  infirmity  overtake  us  *  we 
come  not  within  sight  of  the  castle 
of  our  dreams/  nevertheless,  all 
will  be  w^ell  with  us ;  for,  as  Steven- 
son tells  us  rightly,  *  to  travel  hope- 
fully is  better  than  to  arrive,  and 
the  true  success  is  in  labor.' '' 


THE 
BELOVED    PHYSICIAN 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 


THE 
BELOVED    PHYSICIAN 

Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

There  are,  conceivably,  quite  a 
number  of  persons  who  never  heard 
of  Dr.  Edward  Livingston  Trudeau. 
There  are  undoubtedly  many  who, 
hearing  of  his  death  only  the  other 
day,  discovered  themselves  under 
the  impression  that  he  died  years 
ago,  that  he  belonged  in  human  his- 
tory with  such  figures  as  Pasteur, 
Stevenson,  and  David  Livingstone. 
The  medical  world  knew  all  about 
him  and  bowed  its  head  as  one  man 
when  the  word  was  passed  that  his 


The  Beloved  Physician 

brave  light  of  optimism  had  flick- 
ered for  the  last  time  and  gone  out. 
The  attention  of  the  lay  pubhc  was 
drawn  to  the  golden  afterglow  and 
learned,  perhaps  for  the  first  time, 
that  the  sun  which  had  just  gone 
down  marked  the  close  of  a  splendid 
day ;  that  with  the  words,  "Trudeau 
is  dead,"  the  last  line  had  been 
written  upon  a  remarkable  epic  of 
human  endeavor  and  achievement 
in  the  face  of  circumstances  that 
would  have  daunted  many  more 
hale  in  body,  if  less  strong  in  spirit. 
For  this  martyr-laborer,  whom  I 
come  neither  to  praise  nor  to 
bury,   was  a  giant  "in  a  general 

c:  4  ]  - 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

honest  thought  and  common  good 
to  aU." 

The  press,  lay  and  medical,  has 
already  done  honor  to  the  monument 
of  scientific  accomplishment,  and  of 
human  faith  despite  adversity,  which 
Trudeau  built  with  his  own  frail 
hands,  every  enduring  stone  of  it 
laboriously  carved  out  of  his  ov^n 
sufferings.  This  mental  image  stands 
in  the  most  tragic  and  unromantic 
battlefield  of  life  as  a  great  figure 
of  Hope,  not  harping  upon  a  last 
string,  but  sounding  a  song  that  has 
brought,  and  must  ever  continue  to 
bring,  renewed  faith  to  hundreds  of 
thousands  who,  afflicted  with  tuber- 
C  5  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

culosis,  lift  their  eyes  unto  the  hills. 
And  at  the  base  of  this  figurative 
monument  are  engraven  the  words 
of  Trudeau,  the  beloved  physician  : 
**  The  conquest  of  Fate  comes 
not  by  rebellious  struggle,  but  by 
acquiescence/* 

What  manner  of  man  this  was 
that,  sick  unto  death  over  forty 
years  ago,  could  wield  from  a  little 
laboratory  in  the  wilderness  an  influ- 
ence which  is  materialized  in  nearly 
five  hundred  sanitariums  in  the  west- 
ern hemisphere  for  the  treatment  of 
consumption  by  fresh  air,  rest,  and 
a  proper  philosophy;  what  manner 
[  6] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

of  personality  this  was  that,  from 
the  prostrate  depths  of  an  invalid's 
chair,  could  revolutionize  the  sanita- 
tion of  business  offices  where  gold 
seemed  life's  only  worth-while,  and 
of  homes  where  ignorance  shrank 
from  pure  air  and  sunshine  —  this 
can  be  explained  only  by  an  inti- 
mate personal  revelation  of  the  re- 
markable human  being  that  was 
Edward  Livingston  Trudeau. 

It  is  with  a  painful  sense  of  inca- 
pacity that  one  approaches  the  task ; 
yet  there  is  no  alternative  but  to 
fulfill  it.  For  some  reason  but  dimly 
comprehended  after  many  years. 
Dr.  Trudeau  chose  to  reveal  to  the 

c:73 


The  Beloved  Physician 

writer  a  phase  of  his  inner  self 
which  he  was  perhaps  compelled  to 
keep  hidden  more  or  less  from  many 
others,  on  account  of  his  position, 
on  the  one  hand,  as  a  kind  of  Nestor 
in  his  profession,  and,  on  the  other, 
as  physician-confessor  to  the  sick. 
Like  the  captain  of  a  ship,  he  was 
much  alone  amid  his  great  com- 
pany ;  only  with  some  odd  passen- 
ger, in  whose  tastes  he  found  an 
echo  of  some  of  his  own  that  he 
must  ordinarily  suppress,  could  he 
reveal  the  more  vague  hues  of  his 
heart  and  mind ;  for  he  was  not, 
even  to  those  who  held  him  in  high- 
est esteem,   a  demi-god,  not  all  a 

C   8   ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

hero,  and  if  there  was  one  thing  he 
frankly  detested  it  was  a  hero- wor- 
shiper or  a  poseur  in  the  heroic,  al- 
though he  loved  praise  where  praise 
was  sincerely  accorded. 

This  preface  is  considered  neces- 
sary to  what  follows.  I  was  not  a 
physician  with  whom  he  might  be  ex- 
pected to  discuss  pulmonary  symp- 
toms. I  was  not  his  patient,  although 
sufficiently  under  the  common  shad- 
ow to  have  sympathy  in  that  which 
was  his  thought  day  and  night.  He 
merely  found  in  the  writer,  I  think, 
a  sort  of  Holmes's  Watson  to  whom 
he  could  discourse  of  strange  mat- 
ters, who  could  utter  sufficiently  in- 
C  9] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

telligible  fallacies  that  he  might  turn 
and  rend.  In  no  other  way  can  one 
explain  a  relationship  which  caused 
him  at  intervals  to  write  down,  on 
tom-ofF  scraps  of  paper,  and  mail  to 
one  who  lived  not  two  hundred  yards 
away,  bits  of  philosophy  that  reveal 
more  of  the  real  man  than  all  his  pub- 
lic utterances  ever  did,  or  could.  For 
instance,  he  sent  to  me  one  day  the 
following  statement  upon  that  which 
was  to  him  the  everlasting  riddle  of 
existence :  — 

<*  The  ideal  is  the  beautiful  in  life ; 
the  facts  are  hideous." 

It  was  as  if  he  turned  to  the  former 
as  a  relief  from  studying  the  latter. 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

It  may  be  well  at  the  outset  to 
sketch  briefly  his  voyage  through  the 
world  which  benefited  so  richly  from 
his  journeying.  He  was  bom  in  New 
York  City  in  1848,  of  French  par- 
ents. His  mother  was  a  daughter  of 
Dr.  Frangois  Eloi  Berger,  a  Parisian, 
practicing  in  New  York,  and  his 
father  a  descendant  of  a  Huguenot 
family  which,  leaving  France  for 
Canada,  later  drifted  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  New  Orleans.  Near  the 
Southern  city  James  Trudeau,  who 
was  an  intimate  friend  and  fellow 
traveler  of  the  naturalist-painter 
Audubon,  owned  a  plantation  which 
was  confiscated  by  General  Butler 

n  11  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

in  the  Civil  War.  He  died  of  wounds 
received  while  in  command  of  a  Con- 
federate post,  Island  Number  Ten, 
on  the  Mississippi,  and  when  Ed- 
ward L.  Trudeau,  the  youngest  of 
three  children,  was  little  over  two 
years  of  age,  his  mother  went  with 
her  father.  Dr.  Berger,  to  Paris. 
Here  the  boy  was  educated  at  the 
Lycee  Bonaparte.  When  eighteen 
years  of  age  Edward  returned  to  New 
York,  and  found  himself  hardly  able 
to  speak  the  language  of  his  native 
city. 

He  attended  the  Columbia  School 
of  Mines,  and  after  graduation  en- 
tered the  United  States  Navy.  An 

1 12] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

elder  brother  who  had  preceded  him 
to  Annapohs  was  stricken  with  tuber- 
culosis. Edward  nursed  his  brother 
up  to  the  hour  of  the  latter' s  death, 
six  months  later,  and  thus  first  came 
into  personal  contact  with  that  dis- 
ease to  the  extermination  of  which  he 
devoted  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  en- 
tered the  New  York  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  and  in  the  year 
of  his  graduation,  1871,  practiced 
medicine  in  New  York  City,  in  part- 
nership with  Dr.  Fessenden  Otis.  In 
the  same  year,  unconscious  that  he 
was  doomed  to  his  brother's  disease, 
he  married  Miss  Charlotte  Beare,  of 
Douglaston,  Long  Island,  to  whom 

c  13  n 


The  Beloved  Physician 

he  ever  attributed  the  inspiration  of 
his  labors  through  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury. The  marriage  was  a  perfect 
one,  although  attended  by  many  sor- 
rows. Three  of  their  four  children 
died.  One  son  survives  —  Dr.  Francis 
B.  Trudeau.  The  death  of  Dr.  Ed- 
ward L.  Trudeau,  Jr.,  in  1906,  was 
a  great  blow  to  his  father  and  a  loss 
to  the  medical  profession. 

It  was  in  1873  that  Dr.  Trudeau 
left  New  York  City  with  the  doom 
of  tuberculosis  pronounced  upon  him. 
He  was  only  twenty-five ;  the  gates 
of  life  seemed  shut  in  his  face,  for  it 
was  believed  that  he  had  less  than  six 
months  to  live.  Hardly  able  to  stand 

c  14  3 


w 


Pi 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

alone,  he  was  taken  to  Paul  Smith's 
in  the  Adirondacks  by  a  friend  who 
was  also  a  distant  relation,  Louis  Liv- 
ingston. Smith's  was  then  a  hunters' 
inn  in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness, 
forty  miles  from  the  nearest  railway 
point  at  Ausable  Forks.  The  guide 
who  carried  Dr.  Trudeau  upstairs 
and  put  him  to  bed  described  his  bur- 
den as  "  weighin'  no  more  'n  a  lamb- 
skin." The  same  guide  lived  to 
see  that  lightweight  defeat  a  local 
champion  in  a  backwoods  ring ! 

A  college-mate  of  Trudeau' s,  Ed- 
ward H.  Harriman,  was  then  stay- 
ing at  Paul  Smith's.  Harriman,  Liv- 
ingston, and  ''  Uncle  "  Paul  Smith 

i:  15  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

took  turns  nursing  the  sick  doctor 
through  nights  which  he  was  not 
expected,  in  nature,  to  survive.  And 
yet  he  outhved  them  all !  He  im- 
proved at  Paul  Smith's,  then  tried 
a  winter  at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 
Here  he  suiffered  a  relapse  and  was 
brought  back  to  the  Adirondacks, 
where  he  again  improved.  It  was 
at  about  this  time  that,  being  joined 
by  Mrs.  Trudeau  and  their  two  chil- 
dren, Ned  and  Charlotte,  the  family 
passed  through  a  terrible  ordeal  on 
a  journey  from  Malone  to  Paul 
Smith's.  A  blizzard  arose,  and  the 
trip,  which  usually  occupied  less  than 
a  day,  took  over  forty-eight  hours. 

i;  16:1 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

Paul  Smith  handled  the  team  and 
wagon.  After  plunging  through 
miles  of  snowdrift  in  the  teeth  of  a 
biting  norther,  the  horses  fell  down 
exhausted.  The  family's  baggage 
had  previously  been  abandoned  at 
Barnum  Pond.  Paul  Smith  made 
the  sick  man  as  comfortable  as  pos- 
sible, wrapped  the  children  in  blan- 
kets, and  buried  them  for  warmth 
in  the  snow.  When  the  blizzard 
abated,  the  family  reached  the  hunt- 
er's place,  after  two  days  of  un- 
speakable hardship. 

Surviving  this  ordeal,  seeming 
even  to  have  thrived  upon  it.  Dr. 
Trudeau  began  to  consider  seriously 

C  17  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

the  possible  advantages  in  pulmo- 
nary diseases  of  exposure  to  pure 
cold  air.  He  proposed  to  spend  a 
winter  in  the  Adirondacks,  where 
the  frigid  season  is  prolonged  and 
the  thermometer  occasionally  stands 
at  40°  below  zero.  His  friends  and 
medical  advisers  considered  his  pro- 
position as  a  kind  of  suicidal  mania, 
all  except  Dr.  Loomis  and  Mrs. 
Trudeau.  Dr.  Trudeau  had  been 
impressed  with  the  theory  of  Breh- 
mer,  the  Silesian,  and  of  Dettweiler, 
a  patient  and  pupil  of  Brehmer,  that 
the  consumptive  was  not  harmed  by 
inclement  weather,  provided  he  ac- 
customed himself  to  living  out  of 

C  18  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

doors,  at  rest.  With  the  approval 
of  Loomis  and  Mrs.  Trudeau,  the 
doctor  carried  out  his  experiment, 
the  results  of  which  practically  rev- 
olutionized the  science  of  treating 
tuberculosis.  Trudeau  so  improved 
that  presently  he  began  to  practice 
medicine  among  the  Adirondack  na- 
tives. He  continued  to  do  so  for 
several  years,  often  traveling  forty 
miles  in  a  day  or  night  and  in  all 
sorts  of  weather  to  usher,  perhaps, 
some  little  woodsman  into  the  world, 
or  even  to  allay  anxiety  by  his  mere 
presence.  It  has  been  said  that  his 
bedside  manner  did  more  than  physic 
in  ninety  per  cent  of  his  cases.  Half 

c  193 


The  Beloved  Physician 

of  his  bills  were  never  rendered  and 
a  quarter  of  the  other  half  never 
paid ;  but  tears  w^ould  come  into  the 
eyes  of  many  a  woman  when  she 
saw  him  in  after  years ;  and  men 
called  him  "the  beloved  physician." 
I  have  beside  me  as  I  write  some 
old  prescriptions  that  were  found  in 
the  ragged  ledger  of  a  general  store 
in  the  wilderness  of  forty  years  ago, 
when  stovepipes  and  pills  were  sold 
over  the  same  counter.  There  are 
three  of  them  that  reveal  as  many 
phases  of  this  humane  country  doc- 
tor, who  often  came  in  the  night, 
dressed  in  mackinaw,  pontiacs,  and 
moccasins .  Apparently,  if  the  family 

C  20  ;] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

pig  or  cow  or  dog  was  ailing.  Dr. 
Trudeau  was  summoned  through  the 
wilderness.  Here  is  a  prescription 
calling  for  carbolic,  oil  tar,  sulphur, 
and  olive  oil  —  which,  a  veterinary 
doctor  tells  me,  could  not  be  im- 
proved upon  to-day  as  a  cure  for 
mange.  "  Sig : "  v^ites  Trudeau  at 
the  end  of  the  prescription;  then, 
remembering  that  his  patient  might 
lack  appreciation  even  of  dog-Latin, 
he  dashes  his  pen  through  the  word 
and  adds,  <^Rub  on  the  dog  several 
times  " ! 

There  was  no  liquor  license  in  the 
woods  in  those  days,  and  little  whis- 
key, licit  or  otherwise ;  yet  there  was 

C  21  J 


T*he  Beloved  Physician 

an  all-abiding  thirst,  and  men  made 
their  own  poteen  if  they  could  get 
pure  alcohol  and  some  spirits  of  rye. 
Trudeau  believed  that,  if  a  man  liked 
an  occasional  drink,  it  was  his  human 
right  to  have  it —  in  reasonable  meas- 
ure. But  if  the  man  abused  the  doc- 
tor's confidence,  from  that  day  on 
he  went  parched  and  prescription- 
less. 

Again  one  finds  an  early  prescrip- 
tion for  a  common  symptom  of  tu- 
berculosis. I  brought  this  prescrip- 
tion to  Dr.  Trudeau  not  very  long 
ago  and  asked  him  what  he  would 
prescribe  now  —  after  thirty-five 
years. 


c//a,  ^      /,f  '•^-'■ 


ONE  OF   DR.    TRUDEAU'S    PRESCRIPTIONS 


7o^/^ ^^^^ 


>?^ 


AN   EARLY   PRESCRIPTION    IN   TUBERCULOSIS 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

**That — if  anything,"  he  said; 
"  but  probably  nothing  —  no  physic 
at  all.  Open  the  window  —  go  to 
bed  —  and  keep  your  nerve  !  " 

During  these  early  years  Trudeau 
lived  the  Ufe  of  the  people  in  many 
ways.  Being  restored  to  health,  he 
hunted  and  fished  with  the  other 
sons  of  the  wilderness.  Every  year 
up  to  1913  he  brought  home  his 
string  of  trort  and  killed  his  buck. 
His  skill  with  the  rifle  was  remark- 
able. It  was  a  natural  gift.  On  one 
occasion  he  outmatched  all  competi- 
tors, then,  upon  a  challenge,  picked 
off  his  own  empty  cartridge  shells 
suspended  from  the  branch  of  a  tree 

c  23 :] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

on  strings.  And  as  for  boxing,  it  is 
said  that  one  evening  at  Paul  Smith's 
a  local  champion  coaxed  the  doctor 
to  put  on  the  gloves. 

**  I  promise  not  to  hurt  ye,"  said 
the  amateur  bruiser. 

Where  the  doctor  acquired  the 
gentle  art  no  one  seems  to  know, 
but  v^hen  the  local  champion  picked 
himself  up  at  the  end  of  the  bout, 
he  allowed  that  "  the  doctor  's  the 
quickest  thing  with  the  mitts  I  ever 
run  up  ag'in' ! " 

In  1877  Dr.  Trudeau  left  Paul 
Smith's  and  moved  into  the  adjacent 
hamlet  of  Saranac  Lake,  which  was 
then  a  lumber  center  with  six  houses 

C  24  3 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

and  a  sawmill.  The  railway  was  not 
constructed  to  that  point  until  1888. 
But  when  the  doctor  came  to  the 
village,  gradual  developments  began. 
He  was  followed  by  a  few  patients 
who  had  placed  themselves  in  his 
care  as  a  last  hope  of  cure  or  pro- 
longed life.  The  town  to-day  is  a 
small  city,  the  metropolis  of  the 
Adirondacks,  which  grew  up  around 
the  beloved  physician  and  his  great 
work.  It  has  a  remarkable  sanitary 
system,  and  a  health  code  after  one 
particular  portion  of  which  New 
York  is  said  to  have  reformed  its 
own. 

c:  25  J 


The  Beloved  Physician 

It  was  at  Saranac  Lake  during  his 
first  winter  there  that  Dr.  Trudeau 
literally  dreamed  a  dream.  Loomis 
had  published  a  paper  in  the  "  Medi- 
cal Record/'  drawing  attention  to 
the  climatic  value  of  the  Adirondack 
air  for  pulmonary  invalids,  citing  the 
theories  of  Brehmer  and  Dettweiler 
and,  no  doubt,  having  in  mind  Tru- 
deau's  own  case.  Shortly  after  read- 
ing this  paper.  Dr.  Trudeau  fell 
asleep  while  leaning  on  his  gun  on 
a  fox  runway  on  the  side  of  Mount 
Pisgah,  near  Saranac  Lake.  He 
dreamed  that  the  forest  around  him 
melted  away  and  that  the  whole 
mountain-side  was  dotted  with  houses 
C   26  J 


EDWARD    LIVINGSTON   TRUDEAU 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

built  inside  out,  as  if  the  inhabitants 
lived  on  the  outside.  As  he  said 
many  years  later,  at  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
Adirondack  Cottage  Sanitarium,  "  I 
dreamed  a  dream  of  a  great  sanita- 
rium that  should  be  the  everlasting 
foe  of  tuberculosis,  and  lo !  —  the 
dream  has  come  true  !  " 

Shortly  after  a  reception  held  on 
January  i,  1915,  at  which  all  of  the 
sanitarium  patients  came  to  shake 
hands  with  the  founder,  I  happened 
to  remark  to  the  doctor  on  the 
quaintness  of  his  speech  for  the  oc- 
casion. He  had  spoken  of  the 
strange  new  faces  before  him,  and 

1 27  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

how  there  had  been  a  time  when  he 
was  personally  acquainted  with  each 
and  every  one,  "  his  hopes,  his  fears, 
and  very  often  the  state  of  his  bank 
account";  and  how  the  girls  even 
told  him  of  their  love  affairs  and  of 
womanly  dreams  that  too  often  were 
never  fulfilled.  The  doctor  suddenly 
leaned  forward  in  his  invalid's  chair 
and  said  to  me  in  a  confidential 
stage-whisper,  — 

"  Would  you  believe  it  ?  I  did  n't 
know  what  my  tongue  was  saying. 
I  felt  strangely  aloof  for  the  mo- 
ment. I  saw  a  younger  man  thirty 
years  before,  leaning  on  his  gun, 
waiting  for  a  fox.    There  was  not  a 

[  28  :i 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

house,  not  a  sign  of  a  human  being. 
Now—" 

His  face  was  all  aglow  as  he 
spread  out  his  hands,  and  the  mind's 
eye  saw  that  panorama  of  inside- 
out  houses  which  was  no  longer  a 
dream. 

But  even  after  the  dream  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fulfillment  did  not 
occur  for  five  or  six  years.  He  had 
built  a  house  in  the  village.  There, 
in  that  wonderful  year,  1882,  when 
Koch  announced  his  discovery  of 
the  tubercle  bacillus,  Trudeau,  who 
could  not  read  German,  received, 
as  a  Christmas  present  from  his 
friend,  C.  M.  Lea,  of  Philadelphia, 
C  29  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

a  translation  of  that  document  which 
the  doctor  termed  "the  most  far- 
reaching,  in  its  importance  to  the 
human  race,  of  any  original  com- 
munication "  —  Koch's  "  Etiology 
of  Tuberculosis."  This  was  young 
Trudeau's  immediate  inspiration.  He 
had  an  "  indifferent  medical  educa- 
tion, "  — to  quote  himself,  —  "  no 
apparatus,  no  books,"  and  the  re- 
moteness of  his  surroundings  had 
removed  him  from  contact  with 
medical  men  to  whom  he  might 
apply  for  instruction. 

During  brief  visits  to  New  York 
(sometimes  at  the  expense  of  his 
health),  he  learned  some  of  the  first 

c:  30  3 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

principles  of  bacteriology ;  and  "  I 
taught  myself  the  rest  as  best  I 
could/'  His  laboratory  was  a  little 
room  in  Saranac  Lake,  heated  by  a 
wood  stove  (there  was  no  coal). 
He  had  a  home-made  thermostat 
heated  by  a  kerosene  lamp,  and  in 
this  he  succeeded  in  growing  the 
tubercle  bacillus,  although  he  had 
to  sit  up  o'  nights  to  see  that  the 
living  organism  was  not  destroyed 
by  varying  temperatures.  To  regu- 
late this,  he  invented  a  little  shutter 
arrangement  which  could  be  opened 
or  closed.  He  obtained  the  bacilli 
in  pure  cultures,  and  with  them 
repeated   all    Koch's    experiments. 

c:  31 3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

The  guinea-pigs  used  for  immu- 
nizing tests  he  had  to  keep  in  a 
hole  underground  which  was  heated 
by  another  kerosene  lamp.  He  again 
proved  that  fresh  air  and  natural 
hygiene  were  the  deadly  foes  of  tu- 
berculosis, by  turning  loose  on  an 
island  rabbits  that  had  been  innocu- 
lated  with  the  disease.  Running 
wild,  they  soon  recovered;  while 
others,  similarly  innoculated  and 
kept  in  unhygienic  places,  died  of 
the  disease  in  a  very  short  time. 

While  his  enthusiasm  was  thus 
running  high,  he  built,  in  1884,  on 
the  side  of  Pisgah  —  on  the  place  of 
the  dream  —  a  little  shack  which  is 

C  32  3 


THE   "LITTLE   RED,"    BUILT   IN   1884 
Nucleus  of  the  Adirondack  Cottage  Sanitarium 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

still  there  and  which  is  known  among 
the  great  buildings  now  around  it 
as  "The  Little  Red."  This  was  the 
nucleus  of  the  present  vast  sanita- 
rium. He  began  with  two  patients, 
whom  he  apparently  cured  by  mak- 
ing them  sit  all  day  and  sleep  all 
night  practically  in  the  open  air, 
the  windows  being  open,  with  the 
mercury  courting  the  thermome- 
ter bulb. 

Meanwhile  he  himself  was  labor- 
ing with  his  cultures,  his  home-made 
thermostat,  his  guinea-pigs  and  rab- 
bits. During  the  week  in  1 890  when 
Koch  announced  his  tuberculin  as  a 
"cure"  for  tuberculosis.  Dr.  Tru- 

c  33  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

deau  published  in  the  "  Medical  Rec- 
ord" an  article  describing  failure  to 
obtain  any  appreciable  degree  of  im- 
munity by  injections  of  sterilized  and 
filtered  liquid  cultures  of  the  tubercle 
bacillus  (tuberculin).  Later  experi- 
ments with  Koch's  tuberculin  by 
thousands  of  others  proved  similar 
failures. 

Not  long  after  this,  while  Dr. 
Trudeau  was  lying  ill  and  depressed 
in  New  York  City,  there  came  from 
Saranac  Lake  the  news  that  during 
the  night  his  house,  cultures,  guinea- 
pigs  —  everything  —  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  fire !  It  was  the  last  straw. 
The  sick  man  was  in  despair ;  but  his 
C  34  3 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

indomitable  spirit  came  to  the  rescue 
again,  and  a  letter  signed  by  William 
Osier  helped  him  to  accept  fresh 
battle. 

'^I  am  sorry,  Trudeau,"  wrote 
Dr.  Osier,  "to  hear  of  your  mis- 
fortune, but  take  my  word  for  it, 
there  is  nothing  like  a  fire  to  make 
a  man  do  the  phoenix  trick ! " 

The  phoenix  arose  from  its  ashes, 
with  the  financial  help  of  George  C. 
Cooper,  of  New  York.  Near  the 
ruins  of  Dr.  Trudeau's  first  house 
was  built  the  first  and  best-equipped 
laboratory  in  the  United  States  for 
the  study  of  tuberculosis.  Here 
Trudeau  labored  for  years,  search- 


The  Beloved  Physician 

ing,  as  he  often  said,  *'  in  the  hay- 
stack for  the  needle  that  we  know 
is  there."  Here  his  followers  still 
work  at  all  hours  in  immunizing 
experiments  and  in  the  testing  of 
proposed  specific  remedies  for  the 
cure  of  tuberculosis.  Here  many  a 
**  patent  remedy  '*  of  the  **  cure 
consumption "  order  has  met  its 
Nemesis.  Here,  years  before  either 
Friedmann  or  Piorkowski  tried  to 
commercialize  his  so-called  remedies 
through  tile  press  of  two  continents, 
the  turtle  germ  of  both  was  weighed 
in  the  scientific  balance  and  discarded 
as  useless.  It  is  not  a  breach  of  con- 
fidence now  to  reveal  the  fact  that 

i:  36] 


liEGINNINGS   OK    lllK   OP£N-AlR   CITY   ()K   THE    HILLS,  ABOUT  1S90 


BEGINNINGS  OF  THE   OPEN-AIR   CITY,   ABOUT  1892 
The  original  "Little  Red"  to  the  right  of  Administration  Building 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

an  article  entitled  ''  Has  Dr.  Fried- 
mann  Found  a  Cure  for  Tubercu- 
losis ? ''  which  appeared  on  two  pages 
of  the  New  York  "Times"  on  the 
very  morning  when  the  Berlin  phy- 
sician landed  in  New  York,  came 
from  the  Saranac  Laboratory  and 
was  the  work  of  several  scientific 
brains,  with  Dr.  Trudeau's  as  the 
master-mind  on  the  subject.  That 
article  changed  overnight  the  opin- 
ions of  many  in  the  medical  world 
regarding  the  merits  of  Friedmann's 
"  specific."  Dr.  Trudeau  had  ex- 
amined the  turtle  organism  years 
before,  and  had  labelled  it  not  only 
harmless,  but  quite  useless,  as  an 
C  37  : 


The  Beloved  Physician 

immunizing  agent  in  human  tuber- 
culosis. 

To  go  back  to  the  early  days  of 
sanitarium  work,  the  success  Tru- 
deau  achieved  by  his  open-air  and  rest 
methods  attracted  great  attention. 
The  sanitarium  grew  swiftly.  Other 
States  of  the  Union  built  institutions 
of  somewhat  similar  design  and  for 
similar  treatment.  To-day,  as  already 
remarked,  there  must  be  fully  five 
hundred  sanitariums  for  this  method 
of  treatment  of  pulmonary  tubercu- 
losis throughout  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  The  valley  of  the  Saranac 
itself  with  the  adjacent  Adirondack 
region  contains  several  private  and 

i:  38  J 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

state  sanitariums  that  owe  their  in- 
ception, directly  or  indirectly,  to  the 
influence  of  Trudeau. 

The  Adirondack  Cottage  Sanita- 
rium is,  and  has  been  from  the  first, 
a  semi-charitable  institution  which 
treats  patients  at  a  sum  that  does  not 
cover  the  cost  of  their  board  and 
housing.  The  annual  deficit  of  the 
institution  is  comparatively  large,  as 
a  result,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death  it  was  Trudeau' s  personality 
that  attracted  voluntary  contributions 
for  the  continuance  of  the  great  work. 
Such  names  as  Harriman,  Sage,  SchifF, 
Rockefeller,  Tiffany,  have  figured  in 
the  contributors'  lists.  E.  H.  Harri- 
[39  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

man  was  ever  a  friend  and  admirer 
of  Trudeau  and  of  his  altruistic  la- 
bors for  humanity.  In  the  days  when 
ministers  of  money  sat  in  Harriman's 
antechamber,  they  were  allowed  to 
cool  their  heels  while  a  frail  country 
doctor  was  ushered  in,  and  the  rail- 
road king  let  great  affairs  hang  fire 
while  he  heard  the  latest  yarn  about 
"Uncle*'  Paul  Smith,  or  became  en- 
thralled by  the  idealism  of  the  prac- 
tical dreamer  who  sat  opposite  him, 
—  a  great  head  on  an  emaciated  body, 
a  voice  resonant  with  faith's  enthusi- 
asm, even  while  it  broke  short  in  a 
gasp.  This  man  was  sending  back  to 
life  and  usefulness  twenty  per  cent 
[  40  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

of  his  patients  apparently  cured,  fifty 
per  cent  with  the  disease  arrested, 
and  the  other  thirty  per  cent  with  a 
fighting  chance.  And  while  the  rest- 
less ministers  of  finance  consulted 
their  watches  in  the  antechamber, 
Harriman  listened— and  reached  for 
his  check-book! 

As  for  that  annual  deficit,  a  friend 
who  merely  sought  information  once 

wrote  to  me  as  follows: 

"  What  sort  of  a  man  is  Trudeau  ? 
Is  he  what  so  many  say  he  is,  or  just 
a  clever  doctor  who  has  made  a  for- 
tune out  of  the  Adirondacks?" 

In  a  rash  moment  I  referred  this 
to  the  doctor  himself  I  do  not  know 


"The  Beloved  Physician 

that  he  was  ever  more  upset.  He 
promptly  sent  me  this:  — 

"I  am  always  puzzled  to  know 
why  people  cannot  understand  the 
spirit  of  the  sanitarium  work.  To 
give  a  patient  for  $7  what  costs  $12 
or  $12.50  and  to  have  a  deficit  of 
$27,000  on  running  expenses  for 
the  year  can  hardly  be  a  business 
way  to  make  a  man  rich !  Perhaps 
it  is  the  imposing  appearance  of  my 
equipage  which  makes  the  world 
think  me  a  coiner  of  money ! ! " 

The  "equipage"  to  which  he  re- 
ferred with  irony  was  a  regular  coun- 
try doctor's  buggy,  just  large  enough 
to  accommodate  himself  (and  Mrs. 

C  42  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

Trudeau,  at  a  pinch),  and  drawn  by 
a  shaggy  mare  which  the  townspeo- 
ple affectionately  termed  "the  old 
plush  horse."  In  his  later  years 
some  one  presented  him  with  a  fine 
carriage  and  a  high-stepping  thor- 
oughbred. When  Trudeau  was  called 
out  to  inspect  this  real  equipage,  he 
looked  worried. 

"I — I  can't  ride  in  that  thing!'' 
he  said.  "People  will  think  I  don't 
need  any  money  for  my  sanitarium ! " 

He  agreed  to  accept  the  gift,  how- 
ever, when  it  was  pointed  out  that 
the  ancient  mare  was  on  her  last 
legs.  Thereupon  the  "old  plush 
horse"  was  pensioned  and  given  a 
C  43  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

comfortable  stall  for  life.  On  the  first 
day  of  her  long  holiday  Dr.  Trudeau 
visited  the  stable. 

«  Well,  Kitty,"  he  said,  patting  the 
old  mare, "  your  troubles  are  all  over. 
As  for  me  —  I  expect  this  old  horse 
will  have  to  keep  plodding  along  until 
his  left  ventricle  ceases  to  contract." 

But  the  matter  of  that  "fortune  '* 
troubled  him  for  some  time.  A  month 
later  he  sent  me  another  letter,  ac- 
companying a  financial  report  under- 
scored in  places. 

"This,"  he  v^ote,  "is  for  the 

gentleman  who  sized  me  up  as  *  a 

clever  business  man  who  has  made 

a  fortune  out  of  the  Adirondacks.' 

L  44  3 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

Tell  him  I  begged  all  this  money 
personally,  but  not  for  myself,  as  I 
don't  own  a  cent  of  it  and  draw  no 
salary'' 

The  italics,  needless  to  say,  are 
not  the  doctor's. 

Whatever  he  earned  from  private 
practice  barely  covered  his  living  ex- 
penses. He  raised  the  money  to 
cover  that  deficit  by  what  he  called 
his  "begging  letters."  I  remember 
he  said  to  me  one  day  after  an  anx- 
ious silence, — 

"  I  've  got   a   young  fellow  up 

there  [^at  the  sanitarium]  who  is  a 

first-class  radiographer.  Then  there 

is  a  bacteriologist,  too.  As  soon  as 

C  45  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

they  get  to  feeling  well  they  11  go 
off  and  leave  me.  They  're  married, 
or  are  going  to  be,  I  've  no  doubt. 
If  I  could  only  build  houses  for  them 
and  get  their  wives  settled  —  That 's 
it !  "  he  broke  off.  "  I  Ve  got  to  raise 
the  money  for  it  somehow ! "' 

He  raised  it,  of  course.  Now  there 
are  two  new  cottages  in  the  sanita- 
rium grounds,  and  a  permanent  X- 
ray  operator  and  a  clever  bacteriolo- 
gist have  been  added  to  the  colony 
and  its  cause.  When  the  doctor's  end 
had  been  achieved,  he  told  me  of  his 
success.  He  was  proud  to  think  he 
had  a  radiographer  and  a  bacteriolo- 
gist. 

[  46  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

"  But  why  is  every  one  so  good  ? " 
he  asked.  "Why  do  people  work 
for  me  ? '' 

"They  work  for  —  you,"  was 
suggested. 

"  No,  no  —  I  hope  not,"  he 
protested.  "They  work  for  my 
work." 

"  Well,  did  you  ever  consider  how 
much  your  own  personality  inspires 
this  work  ?" 

"  Oh,  come,  come  !  "  said  he,  as 
pleasurably  confused  as  a  girl  com- 
plimented for  the  first  time  on  her 
looks. 

"  What  do  people  call  my  work  ? " 
he  presently  asked. 

[47  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

I  had  never  heard  it  given  a  name. 
It  v^as  unique.  But  I  ventured  the 
word  "  philanthropy."  He  shook  his 
head. 

"  A  distrustful  word  these  days. 
Still  —  yes  —  say  philanthropy,  plus 
science.  The  sanitarium  is  the  phi- 
lanthropy —  to  cure  or  console ;  the 
laboratory  is  the  science  —  to  find  a 
means  of  further  immunizing  toward 
ultimate,  permanent  cure." 

It  was,  as  a  whole,  a  science  and 
philanthropy  of  Christ;  a  sort  of 
Christian  science  without  intellectual 
sacrifice.  To  this  philanthropy  Tru- 
deau  would  never  permit  his  name 
to  be   attached.    It   was  the   Adi- 

[;48  :] 


> 
Pi 
o 

< 

o 

< 

u4 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

rondack  Cottage  Sanitarium  —  not 
"Trudeau."  It  was  the  Saranac  La- 
boratory —  not "  Trudeau  '*  Labora- 
tory. It  was  usage  and  the  postal 
authorities  that  labelled  a  little  branch 
post-office,  "  Trudeau,  N. Y." 

His  work  and  worth  were  recog- 
nized, however,  during  his  lifetime. 
Among  the  honors  conferred  upon 
him  were  Master  of  Science,  Colum- 
bia University,  1889;  Honorary  Fel- 
low of  the  Phipps  Institute,  1903; 
LL.D.,  McGill  University,  1904; 
and  LL.D.,  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1913.  The  last-mentioned 
degree  he  received  in  absentia,  Yale 
offered  to  confer  the  degree  of  LL.D., 

c  49  :i 


The  Beloved  Physician 

but  the  doctor  was  too  ill  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  exercises. 


I  had  intended  to  omit  anecdotes 
in  this  brief  sketch  of  Trudeau's  life, 
from  the  time  that  he  was  carried 
into  Paul  Smith's  *«  weighin'  no  more 
'n  a  lambskin ''  up  to  the  latter  days 
when  he  lay  on  a  final  bed  of  suffer- 
ing. But  the  anecdotes  would  creep 
in;  and  now  they  may  stay  just 
where  they  are,  for  it  was  charac- 
teristic of  Trudeau,  even  when  ad- 
dressing a  grave  body  of  physicians 
and  master-surgeons,  to  lighten  his 
most  serious  discourses  v/ith  anec- 
dotal humor ;  although  the  first  time 

L  503 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

he  ever  tried  to  address  his  colleagues, 
—  at  Baltimore  in  the  eighties, —  he 
fainted  from  illness,  and,  while  others 
restored  him.  Dr.  Loomis  read  the 
frail  doctor's  address  to  the  gather- 
ing. 

Even  in  his  ossirv  sufferings  he 
found  a  text  for  interesting  discourse 
that  w^as  flavored  with  the  grim  hu- 
mor of  grit.  It  does  not  seem  long 
ago  that  I  stood  by  his  bedside  while 
he,  with  one  poor  portion  of  a  single 
lung,  labored  for  breath.  The  possible 
benefits  of  artificial  pneumothorax 
had  not  yet  been  fully  estabhshed, 
yet  the  doctor  had  been  one  of  the 
first  to  submit  to  the  operation,  of- 

c  51  :i 


The  Beloved  Physician 

fering  himself,  it  seemed,  as  a  vic- 
tim of  experimentation,  although  he 
told  the  operating  physician  that  he 
expected  no  good  results,  —  "for, 
after  all,  my  dear  fellow,  the  age  of 
miracles  is  past/'  Yet  it  eased  his 
sufferings  for  several  years,  although 
at  the  time  he  was  very  ill.  He  as- 
sured me  that  he  was  not  going  to 
die  right  away. 

"No  such  luck!''  said  he  in  the 
most  cheerful  manner.  "But,"  he 
continued,  as  connectedly  as  breath 
would  allow,  "  what  is  the  scheme  of 
this  business — of  life  —  suffering  — 
death  ?  I  don't  understand. 

"  It  reminds  me  of  this  English 

C  52 ;] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

*Cat  and  Mouse'  bill  for  suffragists. 
They  put  a  woman  in  a  cell  till  she 's 
near  dead  of  starvation.  Then  they 
let  her  out  for  a  square  meal  —  so 
she  can  get  strength  enough  to  suffer 
some  more.  You've  got  to  have  feel- 
ing, you  know,  to  suffer.  There's  a 
philosophy,  by  the  way,  for  those  who 
fear  the  agony  of  death.  As  you  lose 
the  enduring  powers  of  life,  you  lose 
also  the  sensibility  to  suffering.  It 
must  be  so.  It  is  so.  I  have  seen  it 
many  times.  .  .  . 

"  Cat  and  mouse,"  he  half-mused, 
— "  life  and  death.  Death  's  the 
cat —  comes  and  paws  until  poor  life 
is  about  dead  to  all  feeling.   Then 

1 53  :i 


The  Beloved  Physician 

the  cat  retires  into  a  dark  corner  and 
purrs  while  the  mouse  gets  a  httle  hfe 
back,  so  as  to  be  more  sensible  of  suf- 
fering when  the  cat  comes  pawing 
again.  I  don't  say  there  's  no  reason 
behind  it  —  but  I  can't  see  it  —  can 

you?" 

The  last  active  labor  of  Dr.  Tru- 
deau  was  the  writing  of  his  autobiog- 
raphy. The  doctor  was  seized  with 
his  mortal  illness  just  after  the  last 
pages  were  written  and  before  he  had 
decided  upon  a  title  for  his  work. 
The  single  word,  "  Acquiescence," 
was  proposed  as  descriptive  of  the 
life  of  a  man  who  accepted  adverse 
conditions  and,  like  the  master  of  a 
C  54  3 


Thjut^ 


■A 


C^cyt^^V^  e.'  O-CeM^ 


cnji 


^' 


r 


^"^^^t^  ^^^5 


U^\Asu^:Uk 


X 


WHEN   THE   FAMILY   DOG   WAS  AILIISTG 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

ship,  turned  the  ill  wind  to  advan- 
tage. The  word  was  taken  from  a 
sentence  which  he  had  once  written 
to  me,  "  The  conquest  of  Fate  comes 
not  by  rebellious  struggle,  but  by 
acquiescence." 

When  the  title  was  suggested  to 
the  doctor  by  one  of  his  associates, 
he  was  unable  to  speak,  but  smiled 
and  shook  his  head.  Later,  when  he 
was  a  little  better,  he  dictated  to  his 
secretary,  "  If  the  world  finds  a  ser- 
mon in  my  life-story  —  good;  but 
I  don't  want  any  one  to  think  I  was 
trying  to  preach  one." 

I  may  be  pardoned  personal  in- 
trusion for  a  moment  to  relate  when 


The  Beloved  Physician 

and  where  I  first  saw  this  remarkable 
man.  I  had  gone  to  Saranac  Lake  in 
ill  health.  I  asked  why  there  was  no 
statue  in  the  community  to  the  great 
Trudeau  of  whom  I  had  read  in  Stev- 
enson's "Letters.'*  Being  reminded 
that  it  was  not  customary  to  erect 
statues  to  the  Uving,  I  decided  to  see 
this  (to  me)  resurrected  person.  It 
happened  to  be  about  the  time  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  found- 
ing of  the  sanitarium.  When  he  stood 
up  on  a  platform  and,  in  a  voice  tense 
with  emotion,  told  of  his  dream  that 
was  now  materialized,  I  was  filled 
with  a  sudden  comprehension  of  the 
amazing  thing  that  was  happening 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

—  the  celebration  of  that  which  this 
frail  man  had  lived  to  achieve  I  I 
wrote  several  verses  and  gave  them 
to  my  own  physician,  merely  as  one 
way  of  expressing  what  I  thought 
about  it  all.  The  next  morning  I  was 
called  on  the  telephone.  It  was  Dr. 
Trudeau  himself;  some  one  had 
pinned  the  verses  on  his  pillow  on 
the  previous  night,  and  they  had 
added  to  the  happiness  of  the  doc- 
tor at  the  end  of  one  of  the  proudest 
days  of  his  life.  He  asked  me  to  come 
and  see  him. 

"  Do  you  know/'  he  said,  when  we 
shook  hands, "  writing  verses  is  some- 
thing beyond  my  comprehension.  I 
C  57  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

understand  poetry,  but  not  how  one 
can  write  it.  My  case  is  like  that  of 
Zeb  Robare,  a  guide  over  at  Paul's. 
He  was  asked  by  some  ladies  he  was 
rowing  the  name  of  a  certain  moun- 
tain up  here.  *  That's  Ampersand/ 
said  Zeb.  *  But,  guide,  how  do  you 
spell  it  ? '  '  Ah,'  said  Zeb, '  that 's  the 
hell  of  it,  ma'am.  I  can  climb  it  easy 
enough,  but  I  could  n't  spell  it  to  save 
my  life ! '  That 's  how  I  feel  about 
poetry ! " 

Oddly  coincident,  Clayton  Hamil- 
ton, a  writer  engaged  on  a  book  about 
Stevenson,  called  upon  Dr.  Trudeau 
to  ask  about  Robert  Louis's  sojourn 
in  Saranac  Lake.  Mr.  Hamilton  later 

CSS  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

confessed  in  cold  type,  "  I  had  come 
to  ask  of  R.  L.  S.  and  remained  to 
admire  this  hero  of  innumerable,  un- 
noted battles,  —  this  maker  of  a  City 
of  the  Sick,  who,  because  of  him,  look 
more  hopefully  on  each  successive 
rising  sun."  Trudeau  marveled  at  the 
feat  of  juggling  English ;  yet  this  au- 
thor vv^rote  in  conclusion:  "  And  the 
best  of  our  tricky  achievements  in 
setting  words  together  dwindle  in  my 
mind  to  indistinction  beside  the  labors 
and  spirit  of  this  man." 

Stevenson,  by  the  way,  produced 
some  of  his  greatest  essays  during 
the  wdnter  of  1887-88,  while  he 
was  under  Dr.  Trudeau's  care  at 

c  59  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

Saranac  Lake.  Stories  of  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  two  men  have  been 
told  and  retold.  At  one  time  I  sent 
a  version  of  the  oft-repeated  "oil" 
story  to  the  doctor  for  confirmation. 
It  v^as  to  the  effect  that  Stevenson, 
after  he  had  written  ''  The  Lantern- 
Bearers"  for  the  Scribners,  w^ent  to 
see  Trudeau's  "light"  in  the  la- 
boratory. Stevenson  was  shown,  in 
the  effects  of  tuberculosis  in  guinea- 
pigs,  the  ravages  of  the  disease  that 
kills  one  human  being  in  every 
seven.  The  sensitive  author  bolted 
out  of  the  house,  declaring  that 
while  Trudeau's  lantern  might  be 
very  bright,  to  him  it  "  smelled  of 

ceo;] 


DR.   TRUDEAU    IN   THE    SARANAC   LAKE   LABORATORY 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

oil  like  the  devil."  Fearing  that  the 
anti-vivisectionists  might  make  capi- 
tal of  the  story,  I  took  the  liberty  of 
modifying  it.  Dr.  Trudeau  wrote :  — 
"I  thank  you  for  your  motive  in 
changing  the  end  of  the  oil  story. 
I  had  never  thought  of  the  anti- 
vivisectionists.  Had  I  thought,  I 
could  have  told  you  a  little  more 
about  it.  Stevenson  saw  no  muti- 
lated animals  in  my  laboratory.  The 
only  things  he  saw  were  the  dis- 
eased organs  in  bottles,  and  cultures 
of  the  germs  which  had  produced 
the  disease.  These  were  the  things 
that  turned  him  sick.  I  remember 
he  went  out  just  after  I  made  this 


The  Beloved  Physician 

remark:  *This  litde  scum  on  the 
tube  is  consumption,  and  the  cause 
of  more  human  suffering  than  any- 
thing else  in  the  world.  We  can 
produce  tuberculosis  in  the  guinea- 
pig  with  it ;  and  if  we  could  learn 
to  cure  tuberculosis  in  the  guinea- 
pig,  this  great  burden  of  human 
suffering  might  be  hfted  from  the 
world;  " 

It  is  true  that  Trudeau  and  Ste- 
venson differed  a  great  deal  on  a 
great  many  subjects,  but  so  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  judge  from  much 
that  the  doctor  has  told  me,  they 
agreed  on  so  many  of  the  greater 
things  of  life  that  they  had  to  dis- 

1 62 ;] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

agree  about  trivial  matters  for  the 
sake  of  something  to  discuss.  They 
actually  got  into  heated  argument 
over  the  great  issue  as  to  which  was 
superior,  the  American  system  of 
transferring  baggage,  or  the  British 
method  of  handling  luggage ! 

Dr.  Trudeau  assured  me,  inci- 
dentally, that  Stevenson  had  no  ac- 
tive symptoms  of  tuberculosis  while 
at  Saranac  Lake,  but  had  apparently 
had  the  disease  and  may  have  devel- 
oped active  symptoms  after  he  went 
away.  He  did  not  die  of  tuberculosis, 
although  this  might  have  been  a  con- 
tributing cause.  Trudeau  had  a  full 
report  made  to  him  regarding  the 

CSS  ] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

circumstances  of  Stevenson's  death 
at  Samoa  in  1894. 

This  paternal  interest  in  ex-pa- 
tients was  characteristic  of  Dr.  Tru- 
deau.  Particularly  he  liked  to  address 
a  word  of  parting  advice  to  a  young 
man  going  back,  apparently  cured, 
to  a  life  of  continued  usefulness. 
Here  is  atypical  letter  of  this  kind :  — 

"Do  take  my  advice  and  don't 
presume  upon  your  physical  endur- 
ance. When  you  have  once  been  in 
the  grip  of  the  tiger  you  ought  not 
to  give  him  a  chance  to  get  you 
again,  for  he  has  downed  many  as 
good  a  man  as  you  are ;  and  you  must 
not  act  on  impulse,  but  use  your  head 


THE   ADIRONDACK   COTTAGE  SANITARIUM 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

and  self-control,  even  if  you  can't 
accomplish  all  you  want  to  in  life.  If 
you  can't  have  a  whole  loaf,  try  and 
be  satisfied  with  a  half  one,  or  else 
the  graham  bread  will  get  burned  in 
good  earnest  and  you  won't  have 
any  loaf  at  all !" 

His  attitude  toward  the  patients, 
who  came  from  all  lands,  ranks,  and 
conditions,  was  ever  eloquent  of  the 
man's  human  kindness  and  sympa- 
thy. Many  came  as  broken  in  spirit 
as  in  health,  and  often  with  but  two 
hopes :  one,  that  Trudeau  would  per- 
form the  great  miracle;  the  other, 
that  a  physician  of  his  reputation 
would  charge  no  more  than  this  latest 
C  65  3 


The  Beloved  Physician 

victim  of  tuberculosis  could  scrape 
together.  I  know  of  one  case  in 
which  the  new  patient  said,  "Doc- 
tor —  before  you  do  anything  —  I 
have  n't  much  money.  How  —  how 
much  will  it  cost?" 

"  Much  depends  on  how  much 
you've  got,  and  how  bad  you  are," 
said  Trudeau,  himself  assisting  to 
unbutton  the  patient's  collar.  "  You 
see,"  he  went  on  disarmingly,  "if 
you  are  not  very  bad,  it  will  cost 
you  quite  a  lot,  so  I  can  use  the 
money  for  those  who  are.  If  you  are 
a  really  bad  case  —  Well  —  Say 
*  ninety-nine,'  please,  and  keep  on 
saying  it  while  I  listen  to  your  chest." 
L   66  ] 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

The  doctor's  face  became  grave 
as  he  noted  the  vibrations  caused 
by  the  reiterated  "nine-nine-nine." 
When  the  examination  was  over  the 
patient  asked,  — 

"  How  bad  —  I  mean  —  how  much 
will  it  be,  doctor?'' 

For  reply  Trudeau  —  and  one  can 
comprehend  the  great  sympathy 
that  flooded  the  beloved  physician's 
face  —  handed  the  patient  a  ten- 
dollar  bill. 

*'  I  owe  you  —  that  much  —  at 
least,"  he  said. 

One  can  imagine  the  rest  —  that 
speech  which  he  employed  so  often 
and  to  so  many :  — 

c:  67 :] 


T'he  Beloved  Physician 

"Don't  take  it  too  seriously,  but 
just  seriously  enough.  I  am  no  bet- 
ter off  in  health  than  you  are,  and 
both  you  and  I,  old  man,  will  be  a 
great  deal  worse  before  we  're  bet- 
ter." 

When,  however,  he  sent  some 
promising  young  man  back  into  the 
battle  of  life,  a  repaired  asset  to  the 
world,  he  liked  to  refer  to  him  as 
"  another  young  gladiator  with  a  new 
blade  in  his  sword.'*  The  following, 
which  he  sent  to  me  one  day,  ex- 
plains the  simile :  — 

"  My  sympathies  are  naturally  in 
the  world  with  the  vanquished.  My 
favorite  statue  is  that  great  one  of 

c:  68  -} 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

Victory  carrying  the  dying  gladia- 
tor, his  broken  sword  in  hand.  The 
world  applauds  and  bows  before  suc- 
cess and  achievement;  it  has  little 
thought  for  those  who  fall  by  the  way, 
sword  in  hand ;  and  yet  it  takes  most 
courage  to  fight  a  losing  fight ! " 

Speaking  of  this  same  statue, 
"  Gloria  Victis,"  a  fine  copy  of  which 
stood  in  the  hall  of  his  house,  he  said 
one  day  early  in  the  great  European 
war :  "  When  he  created  that  thing, 
I  wonder  did  the  sculptor,  Mercie, 
realize  that  he  was  modeling  the 
glory  of  Belgium  in  ruin  ? " 

Of  the  war  itself  he  said,  sadly: 
"  I  thought  the  world  was  better." 

C69:] 


The  Beloved  Physician 

Others  saw  something  of  the  doc- 
tor's own  heroic  spirit  in  that  figure, 
with  the  broken  sword  in  the  droop- 
ing right  hand,  and  the  left  arm  still 
held  aloft  as  if  the  dying  warrior 
challenged  even  death  —  ^^Moritu- 
rus,  te  saluto  !  " 

Possibly  the  impression  has  been 
given  in  these  pages  that  Trudeau 
was  an  approachable  person.  He 
was,  to  some ;  to  many  he  was  quite 
unapproachable,  especially  inter- 
viewers. He  feared  a  scribe.  To  the 
present  writer  he  repeatedly  said, 
"  Remember  —  I  trust  you ;  but 
don't  you  ever  publish  what  I'm 
telling  you  until  after  I  am  where 

1:703 


EDWARD   LIVINGSTON   TRUDEAU 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

I  won't  care  what  the  world  says 
about  me." 

Even  to  his  most  intimate  friends 
he  was  difficult  of  approach  when, 
after  "studying  the  ceiling"  for 
many  long  days,  he  was  irritated 
beyond  human  self-control  by  his 
sufferings.  But  even  then  he  could 
be  played  like  a  fine  instrument  if 
the  musician  had  technique.  If  the 
doctor  was  in  that  depth  of  depres- 
sion out  of  which  he  would  chant  a 
"De  Profundis"  of  blackest  pessi- 
mism, all  that  was  necessary  was  to 
agree  with  him  that  life  was  "a 
senseless  business  " ;  whereupon  he 
would  draw  his  sword  of  optimism 


The  Beloved  Physician 

and  flash  the  text  engraven  upon  its 
bright  blade  :  "O  ye  of  httle  faith ! '' 
But  if  you  told  him  he  looked  well 
and  you  hoped  he  felt  so,  he  would 
say,  '*  I  don't.  I  'm  utterly  miser- 
able ! "  and  sink  back  in  his  invalid's 
chair  with  a  smile  that  seemed  to 
add,  "There 's  little  sport  in  an  easy 
game." 

Characteristic  of  the  man's  phi- 
losophy was  his  own  comment  on 
his  fits  of  melancholy,  vouchsafed 
once  to  a  fellow  sufferer  who  had 
been  in  depths  of  depression:  "If 
you  go  down  to  the  depths  at  times, 
you  have  many  glimpses  of  higher 
things  that  people  of  a  more  even 

n  72  3 


Edward  Livingston  Trudeau 

temperament  never  get;  and  after 
all,  the  ideal  is  the  beautiful  in  life ; 
the  facts  of  life  are  hideous." 

He  once  told  a  visitor  some  tales 
of  his  experiences  with  the  great  hu- 
man tragedy  —  told  them  as  if  they 
belonged  to  the  great  human  com- 
edy, for  his  humor  v^as  irrepressible. 
But  the  visitor  did  not  laugh;  he 
w^ent  av^ay  a  sadder  and  a  wiser  man. 
Possibly  he  thought  the  doctor  hard- 
ened; but  I  shall  never  forget  the 
expression  of  Trudeau's  face  when 
I  asked  him  directly  if  he  had  not 
become  so  accustomed  to  tragedy 
that  it  no  longer  touched  his  emo- 
tions. The  smile  left  his  face;  his 

n  73  3 


T^he  Beloved  Physician 

eyes  looked  out  and  beyond  with  a 
suddenly  moist  softness,  and  he  said 
slowly,  "  Pity,  as  an  emotion,  passes. 
Pity,  as  a  motive,  remains." 


THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .   A 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  Hbrary  rules  or  by  special  arrangement  with 
the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE   DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE   DUE 

DEC     7  1 

94f 

-    fliir  Ti     i^^^' 

HUU    (3          ' 

•      -. 

sm  1 8 1! 

m 

W2^ 

.4i-.i 

' 

■v-V 

^ 
► 

I 

C2a(842)M50 

\\ 


^ 


# 


I 


